Washington state withdraws carbon regulation scheme following industry concern

Dive Brief:

Washington's Department of Ecology has withdrawn a proposed carbon regulation scheme that would have placed caps on large emitters, and the state will now head back to the drawing board.
E&E Publishing reports the rule was withdrawn after widespread questions about how the crediting system worked, and because of the high number of companies asking for exemptions. The rule would have affected about 70 facilities.
Last summer, Gov. Jay Inslee directed the Department of Ecology to impose a binding cap on carbon emissions under the authority of the state's Clean Air Act. But critics of the proposed system pointed to its inability to coordinate regionally because of the specific nature of its rules, and the possibility of creating windfall profits for companies already planning emissions reductions.

Dive Insight:

Washington air regulators will begin development of a new rule, after questions, criticisms and requests for waivers of the proposed system indicated a problem. E&E reports the thing most observers want is a more straightforward process, such as an economy-wide cap rather than setting individual limits for companies.

"It's useful to have a total economywide cap," Vlad Gutman, Washington director Climate Solutions, told E&E. "Once you have that cap, that allows more cohesion and integrity when you're dealing with businesses entering the market and businesses exiting the market."

A more straightforward process would also make the plan easier to integrate with the Clean Power Plan's goals. The former proposal would have allowed credits from other markets to be brought in, which led to questions from the nine-member Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

After Washington announced its regulatory initiative, RGGI issued a statement, saying "although the RGGI states commend Washington for moving forward to limit greenhouse gas emissions, the proposal raises substantive issues relating to the potential use of RGGI allowances. The RGGI states will evaluate the proposal with input from RGGI stakeholders and anticipate submitting comments to Washington as it proceeds with the rulemaking."